Naru's Story
by ecyor0
Summary: A retelling of the Sailor Moon anime as seen exclusively from Naru's perspective. With credit to the good folks on the Sailor Business podcast for giving me the original idea.
1. Chapter 1

_"So, what triggered it this time?" the counselor asked, sounding a little more tired than usual. Naru sat on the sofa, hands clenched over her knees, refusing to look the counselor in the eyes. Sighing, the counselor removed her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Is it alright to punch people we don't agree with?" she asked in the usual resigned tone._

_"No, Miss Yamada," Naru mumbled, eyes fixed on her knuckles._

_"Did you apologize to the boy after you punched him?"_

_"No, Miss Yamada."_

_"Are you going to apologize to him when you get back to class?"_

_"Yes, Miss Yamada."_

_Miss Yamada nodded, eyes still closed. After a few seconds, she frowned and looked up. "Wait, was it a boy this time?"_

_"Yes, Miss Yamada."_

_"Good. Well, not __**good**__ but..." Miss Yamada sighed. "Look, Miss Osaka. It's my job to help you work through whatever's making you act out, and I'm happy to do that... but I can't actually help you unless you talk to me. I can't tell you how you can deal with your anger unless I know who you're angry __**at**__. "_

_"Nothing," Naru said. "Everything. I don't know" She pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead. "Everything's just... gone wrong."_

_Miss Yamada twirled her pen between her fingers, considering the girl. All her teachers were quite confused about what had caused Naru Osaka, an otherwise model student, to suddenly become the most disruptive influence in her year. Picking fights, handing in barely-completed homework (if any), talking back to teachers... the faculty had all but given up on her. Miss Yamada had appealed to the principal to give her until the end of the term to try and help Naru. Something she wasn't confident she could actually do... but she had to try._

_"Let's come at this from another direction," Miss Yamada said, clasping her hands on the desk. "Was there a specific point where things started to go wrong?"_

_"...it snuck up on me," she said finally. "By the time I realized things were going wrong... I was already getting swept up in it all."_

* * *

"I had a really wonderful dream last night," Naru said excitedly as she came up to her classmates. "This warrior of justice called Sailor Moon appeared and destroyed this monster..."

"Wait, really?" Yumiko interrupted, "I had the same dream!"

"Me too!" Kuri added.

"How strange..." Naru mused. Then noticing that her best friend was yet again catching 40 winks before class, "Hey, Usagi. Usagi, listen!" The resident blonde-haired sloth made a piteous groaning noise from beneath her folded arms.

"M'tired," Usagi mumbled. "Keep it down, lemme sleep a bit more..." She stretched her mouth open in a yawn and rolled her head over to the other side of the desk. Naru smiled and shook her head. She'd tell Usagi at lunch after she'd woken up properly. In the meantime, she went back to the more curious matter.

"The same dream, you say?" Naru asked, pulling the other girls away to her desk. "You sure? I mean, my dream happened in my Mum's jewellery store.."

"Same!" Yumiko replied. "Well, your Mum, not mine, but you get what I mean."

"And everyone suddenly started fainting?" Naru asked.

"Yeah, and then this girl showed up at the entrance, dressed like Sailor V, but with her hair in long ponytails."

"And then she used a sonic attack to stun the monster?" Naru prompted.

"Uh... don't think that happened in my dream." Kuri frowned, scratching her forehead. "My memory's a bit hazy on the details, you know how dreams are. But I clearly remember she threw her tiara at the monster, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." Naru sat at the desk, absentmindedly chewing her thumb as she mulled this information over. "Okay, this is bizarre... I mean, this _couldn't_ have actually happened right? I remember waking up in my bed this morning."

"Same... although now I think of it..." Kuri looked between the others. "Does anyone here remember going to bed last night?"

There was a pregnant pause. The expressions on everyone's faces became uniformly astounded as they realized no-one was going to answer the question.

"Golly," Naru said, looking as stunned as the rest. "So that means... it really happened?"

_...and if it really happened,_ she added in her head. _Then that means..._

Naru forgot to talk to Usagi about the incident at lunch. She spent the entire day worrying about what she was going to say to her mother when she got home.

* * *

It turned out Mrs Osaka was as confused as Naru. While her version of events confirmed that the monster attacking the jewellery store had been real (either that or the mother of all mass hallucinations), she had little more to add to the story. She had a gap in her memory that stretched back to last Wednesday, which lined up with the time Naru's "mother" had begun organizing the big jewelry sale, as well as a vague memory of being jumped from behind while she was closing up shop that night, but beyond that she was quite in the dark. She was however, able to clear up the mystery of how Naru had ended up in bed; the younger teenagers seemed to have been hit harder than the adults by the monster's... whatever it was. An emergency coffee production line in the staffroom had got the grown women functional again, but the teenagers were still slipping in and out of consciousness when their parents took them home. Mrs Osaka had carried Naru upstairs to her bedroom to let her sleep it off while she began sorting out the store. She had been quite flustered to discover what her double had been up to in her absence.

"This is... I don't even know how to describe this!" her mother spluttered as she went over her stock-take list. "She sold _everything_ at a loss! This is awful! It's _criminal!_ It's just as well we're almost at the end of the quarter or I'd be going bankrupt! If I ever find out who organized this I'll... I'll..." she open and closed her mouth in incoherent fury.

"I'll just pop outside so you can let out some steam, shall I?" Naru said with a smile, stepping sideways out the door. She'd barely pulled it to before her mother began letting loose a stream of choice swearwords.

_I wonder what the monster was after,_ Naru thought to herself as she got into bed that night. _I mean, having a big jewelry sale so you can... make people sleepy? No, there must be more to it than that. Maybe it needed its victims to be unconscious before it could do anything to them... didn't stop it coming after me though. Ah well, it's all over now._ Rolling over and pulling the duvet up to her chin, Naru settled down to sleep.

That night was the first time Naru had the nightmare about her mother strangling her, a sadistic grin on her face as Naru struggled beneath her talon-like fingers, pleading for mercy.

* * *

Okay, what did you want to talk to me about?" Naru asked as she ran up to Umino. The scruffy boy leaned against one of the courtyard trees, looking off wistfully into the distance.

"I want to go on a date with Usagi..." he said in a romantic tone... "And trade diaries and even talk to her parents about her future." ...or at least it _had_ been romantic up until that point. Naru blinked once or twice, before she broke out into helpless laughter. Umino deflated like a punctured beachball.

"I'm sorry," Naru said, getting a hold of herself. "I just don't think it'll work if you ask her up front."

"So I should attack from behind?!" Umino asked dramatically. Naru shook her head and wagged her finger, unfazed by Umino's unfortunate (as usual) phrasing.

"Go ask a fortune teller, she'll tell you what you should do."

"Well, I already know the answer then." Umino said, tapping his glasses with a smug look. Naru raised an eyebrow as Umino pulled a little electronic game of some kind out of his bag.

"See, I programmed this fortune teller game myself - according to this, Usagi and I are _destined_ for each other!"

"No, _no!_" Naru stomped her feet in frustration at Umino's obtuseness. "I mean a _real_ fortune teller!"

"Ah, I see."

Naru sighed. Gurio Umino to use his full name (not that anyone did), was a nice enough kid, but he had the weirdest ideas about how to deal with girls. He was that one person who appeared in most social circles, where no-one quite knew how someone that obnoxious had ended up in the group to begin with, but no-one actually wanted to be the one to kick him out. Still... Naru found his crush on Usagi oddly charming. The confidence boost from a visit to a fortune teller might just be enough to get him through the attempt to ask her out without making a fool of himself.

"Look, there's this place that opened in Juubangai recently, House of Fortune. I heard that they're pretty good, so why don't you try them?"

"Okay!" Umino said. Naru recognized the happy, away-with-the-faeries look that meant Umino had fully latched on to her suggestion.

_And my work here is done,_ Naru thought to herself as Umino trotted off.

* * *

"Did Umino say anything to you?" Naru asked as she closed her locker. Usagi looked quizzically at Naru.

"About what?" Well, so much for the fortune teller approach.

"I think Umino likes you."

"_What?!_" Usagi was as astounded as Naru had expected her to be. Settling into matchmaker mode, Naru took hold of Usagi's arm and sidled up to her.

"But he's naive and innocent, so he's too shy to say anyth-"

"Usagi, let's go on a date!"

Usagi and Naru turned their heads in unison. There, leaning against the locker was Umino, wearing a three-piece suit which looked to be some horrible shade of grey-blue.

"What's wrong?" Usagi asked, looking over the bizarre getup.

"...It's not a good idea to come to school dressed like that," Naru added, unable to come up with anything else to say.

"Who cares?" Umino strolled up to Usagi, casually putting his hand on her shoulder, seemingly oblivious to Usagi tensing up at the sudden invasion of personal space. "Usagi, let's go on a date today."

"He's gotten brave all of a sudden..." Naru observed again, still flying on automatic as she tried to wrap her head around what was happening.

"_Umino!_ What on _earth_ are you wearing?" Ms. Haruna loomed behind Umino, radiating that special brand of professional-yet-personal umbrage that all teachers seemed to have. Instead of flinching and apologizing however, Umino took a sandwich roll out of his bag and bit into it. "Umino! What are you thinking?"

Umino casually walked down the hallway. "Thinking this." And Naru's eyes widened as he flipped Ms. Haruna's skirt up in the air on his way past. Ms. Haruna stood there for a few seconds, an expression of mortified shock on her face, before she broke down and began crying there in the corridor.

"Uh, you go ahead, Usagi," Naru said as she knelt down to awkwardly comfort Ms. Haruna. "I'll stay with her." Usagi gave Naru an uncertain look, before continuing on to class. Ms. Haruna sniffled as she got herself under control, face beetroot red with embarrassment. "I'm sure it was just some stupid dare his friends put him up to," Naru said, not even convincing herself. "By the time we get to English, everything will be back to normal."

Things didn't get back to normal in English class. In fact, they got worse. Umino loudly 'reading' manga as Ms. Haruna tried to take the lesson was bad enough, but when Yuuji tripped her up as she marched down the class to deal with him, Naru actually got a chill from how callous they were being. Ms. Haruna was clearly fighting back tears of humiliation as she picked herself up from the floor. And looking around the class, Naru could see that the rest of the students were just as shocked as she was at how the two boys were behaving. There was just no explanation for it. Well, except for one... and Naru didn't like where that train of thought took her.

* * *

"You know," Naru said as she met up with Usagi after school. "Umino went to that House of Fortune the other day."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I told him about it. And I think Yuuji went too."

Usagi looked up at the clouds as she mulled the information over, no doubt coming to the same conclusion Naru had. Before they could continue the conversation any further though, a sound of breaking glass came from the other side of the courtyard.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" the maths teacher shouted as he pulled the staffroom window open, a jagged hole clearly visible where a rock had smashed through it. A second rock followed, smashing the window as the teacher ducked out of sight. Down below the window, a group of boys were holding rocks, all of them looking like they wanted trouble.

"Hey, you're not so smart!" the leader said, and Naru recognized Umino's gray-blue suit. "So stop acting like you're better than us!"

"Yeah!" the other boys shouted in agreement, and the group began launching a salvo of rocks that destroyed every panel of the office window. For Usagi, this was more than enough.

"Come on," she said, grabbing Naru's hand. "We need to put a stop to this before someone gets hurt." They ran across the courtyard, coming up to the group of boys just as they finished their salvo. "What are you doing?" Usagi shouted at Umino. "What is this?"

Umino turned to look at Usagi with a smirk. "Hey, Usagi." And something about his expression make the hair on Naru's neck stand on end.

"What's wrong with you?" Usagi demanded, unfazed by Umino's lack of timidity. What happened next, Naru couldn't quite believe. It just didn't seem real. Umino grabbed hold of Usagi's hand and pulled her in. "Wanna kiss?" he asked, taking hold of Usagi's shoulders. And he leaned in towards Usagi with what could only be described as a _predatory_ look on his face. Naru was half a second away from stepping in and pushing Umino away...

...at which point Usagi fell back on her standard method of dealing with problems and began bawling her eyes out.

"I don't like you when you're like this!" she wailed at the top of her lungs. "I hate you, I hate you, _I hate you_!" Everyone present clapped their hands over their ears as her shrill piercing cry stabbed into their eardrums.

"Let's get out of here," Umino said to the other boys, who all followed him out of the immediate blast radius until they could take their fingers out of their ears again. Once they were out of sight (and she felt her ears had endured all the crying they could handle for one day), Naru patted Usagi on the shoulder.

"Usagi, it's okay now," she said comfortingly. She was expecting to have to spend the next few minutes consoling her, but instead, Usagi turned off the waterworks immediately and gave Naru a smile.

"Ah, that feels better," she said as if she'd just stretched her arms. Naru buried her face in her hand.

"_Good grief,_" she said. "Could have at least given me some warning."

"Gotta keep the element of surprise," Usagi replied mischievously, winking at Naru and grinning. The grin faded as she looked back in the direction Umino and his gang had left. "What was that all about though?"

"Search me," Naru repied. "Seriously, what was Umino _thinking?_ I mean, he's always been a bit awkward but he's never been so... _creepy_ about it. I was uncomfortable just watching that, I can't imagine how you felt."

"There must be something making him to act up," Usagi said thoughtfully. "Umino wouldn't be mean like that for no reason."

"You're too generous," Naru said as she shouldered her schoolbag. "Oh well, off home. Want to come back to my place?"

"Actually I've got some stuff I need to do," Usagi said, skipping over to the gate, where a black cat hopped out of the bushes and rubbed against her ankles. "See you tomorrow, Naru!"

"See you!" Naru called back, waving goodbye.

* * *

The incident at the House of Fortune that evening became the first reported instance of Sailor Moon in action, although later interviews would establish the Osa-P jewellery store as the first sighting of the mysterious superhero. A number of young teenagers from across Juuban were discovered at the building (curiously devoid of any employees), all in a daze and uncertain of how they'd got there or why they were missing 24 hours, but all quite certain that they'd seen a slender, beautiful girl in a sailor costume (much like Sailor V's), give them a friendly wave before disappearing into the night. The official story was some kind of drug-induced fugue caused by the fortune teller burning incense with mind-altering properties that messed with people's inhibitions - essentially, Umino and his gang had been drunk for the entire day. And like most drunk people, Umino was absolutely mortified to discover what he'd been up to during his blackout.

* * *

"So, um... what was I actually _doing_ yesterday?" Umino asked Naru nervously as they waited for the bus. Naru smirked to herself. She was going to enjoy this.

"Well first of all, you turned up in a three-piece suit. _Horrible_ shade of blue I might add."

Umino relaxed a little. "Well, if that's the worst I did..."

"You also flipped Ms. Haruna's skirt." Naru added.

Umino dropped his bag as he finished processing that sentence. "I did _what?!_"

Naru smiled as Umino sat down on the pavement, going into meltdown at the news. It was a little mean to rub it in his face like this, but after the grief he'd caused yesterday, Naru felt he deserved a little embarrassment of his own. She leaned in over him as he began hyperventilating a little.

"_And_ you tried to kiss Usagi." Naru continued. "And then you broke the window of the teacher's office... hey, where are you going?" Umino had begun to trudge away from the bus stop, shoulders slouched.

"My life's over," he said miserably. "There's no coming back from this..." He was so absorbed in self-pity that he didn't notice Usagi coming up the street in front of him.

"Gooood morning!" Usagi said, sticking her face in front of Umino's and giving him a broad smile. Naru couldn't see it from where she was, but she could imagine the look of sheer panic on Umino's face as he tried to stammer out an apology.

"Uh... about yesterday..."

"Don't worry about it!" Usagi said sunnily, not even skipping a beat. Naru smiled and shook her head. Trust Usagi to forgive and forget. Even if Umino was the kind of person to put his other foot in his mouth as soon as you pulled the first one out.

"You're right! I shouldn't worry about it," Umino said with false confidence. "After all, you're okay when you get bad grades on your tests. I need to be more like you." And completely oblivious to Usagi's put-out expression, he turned and waltzed back to the bus stop.

Naru laughed despite herself. Umino's shenanigans could be tiresome, but they were also quite entertaining. And right now, she could use the distraction. She'd had the nightmare about her mother strangling her again, last night. It was beginning to worry her...


	2. Chapter 2

_"I didn't really think much about it at first," Naru admitted as she accepted the offer of a mint from the bowl on Miss Yamada's desk. "Just thought it was a crazy set of coincidences. After a while it started to all connect together into one big crazy conspiracy."_

_"I see," Miss Yamada said, nodding sagely. Naru looked up at her._

_"Oh no, I don't mean I thought I was specifically being targeted... well, I kindof did at the time, but not anymore. I'll get to that." She sucked on the mint for a bit, before crunching it in her molars to finish it off quickly. She mulled things over for a bit. How much to actually tell the counsellor? She couldn't tell her everything, for obvious reasons. Still, a lot of it was more-or-less public knowledge by now..._

_"Do you remember the time Ms. Haruna had to get shuttled off to hospital straight from class?..."_

* * *

"Good evening, and welcome back to Midnight Zero" Naru settled on the bed as the soft, romantic saxophone music began to play (made even softer by the fact that she had the volume down to avoid disturbing her parents). "Our last letter tonight comes to us all the way from Haruna of Juuban." Naru clutched her pillow closer as the show host J-Dite began to read out the love letter. He had the perfect voice for the role; silky-smooth, with an almost unearthly charm to it.

_I wonder how long it'll be before someone sends a love letter addressed to him?_ Naru thought to herself. She'd considered doing that herself, but in the end she'd made the love letter more open ended. She was still searching for someone special after all. Well, not _searching_ per se... she was a little too timid for that. She just didn't have anything going for her; she was plain old Naru Osaka. Just sitting here, experiencing romance vicariously through other women's love letters.

_You could totally write a poem about that,_ Naru thought to herself as J-Dite moved on to the next letter. _Maybe I could do that for my next letter if my latest one doesn't get on air._

"We're sharing everyone's love letters on this show. For those whose letters are read, we will send you a flower brooch that makes love come true. FM 10, Midnight Zero. We want your love to blossom. I'll be back tomorrow. This is J-Dite."

Naru sighed as the program finished. She wondered if her own letters would ever actually make it to air. _Maybe one day, _she told herself as she reached over to switch off the light.

* * *

Naru looked up as Usagi barreled into class, late as usual. She charged down the aisle, sliding into her chair with practised ease, panting as she tried to catch her breath. Naru gave her a minute to recover from what had no doubt been a sprint across town. She never seemed to learn, Usagi. Not that Naru could criticize, seeing as she was staying up to listen to a late-night radio show herself.

The bell for the start of class chimed. Naru frowned as she looked at the empty teacher's desk. Curious. Usagi seemed to think so too.

"Naru, where's Ms Haruna?"

"She seems to be late," Naru answered with a shrug.

"Lucky me!" Usagi said to herself, fist-pumping in self-congratulation.

"It's unusual for Ms Haruna to be this late." Umino observed with an air of authority. Before Naru had a chance to quip back at him however, the door opened, and Ms Haruna entered the class.

Well, 'entered' wasn't quite the right word. 'Staggered into' would have been more accurate. She seemed barely conscious. The entire class gasped as she tripped over the edge of the teacher's desk and almost fell face-first onto the floor, barely catching herself on the corner of the desk. Straightening up without skipping a beat, she turned to address the class. And then opened her mouth in a loud yawn.

_This is... not like Ms Haruna at all,_ Naru thought to herself as the teacher pulled out the roll book.

"Let's see... I'll take roll call now." Ms. Haruna said, every word seeming to take great effort. She lifted the roll book up, only for it to slip from her hands and onto the desk. She looked at it for a few seconds, as if confused how it had got there. "...Actually, today will be self study," she announced vaguely. "Just... just study whatever you want. Today I'm just..." she stretched her arms and let out a long, groaning yawn. "So, so sleepy..." And with that, she curled up on the desk and fell asleep.

The class were all sitting there with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. True, Ms. Haruna might not always be the picture of professionality, but she'd never so much as nodded off in class before, let alone gone out like a light before class had even started.

"Usagi, what do you think's wrong with Ms. Haruna?" Umino asked.

"Don't ask me, how would I know?" Usagi retorted. Then, with a grin to herself. "_Really_ lucky for me though!"

"Usagi," Naru chided, lightly clipping her on the back of the head. "This is serious. I think something's wrong with her." Naru stood up from the desk. "We need to call emergency services!" she announced to the class. "Someone run down to the teacher's office!"

* * *

The paramedics arrived within minutes, carrying Ms. Haruna out on a stretcher. The class watched in concern from the window as they brought her to the ambulance.

"I wonder what's wrong?" Umino mused out loud.

"She won't wake up, no matter what we do." Usagi turned to Naru. "Is it that exhausting to be a teacher?"

"Actually, I heard there's a disease going around just like this, where you don't ever wake up," Naru replied. She hadn't really given it much thought before, but now that she thought about it, that was almost certainly the explanation. _I hope I'm wrong,_ Naru thought to herself. The idea of Ms. Haruna never waking up again was not a happy one.

Usagi seemed to think otherwise though.

"...ooh, so you get to sleep forever! Now nice." Umino and Naru both spluttered in shock at Usagi's statement.

"Why?!" Naru asked, eventually.

"Because you get to stay in your dreams forever... I bet that's a lot of fun." Naru looked at Usagi's happy daydream expression for a bit, before she and Umino exchanged identical expressions of confused exasperation. Typical Usagi, never knowing when to be serious.

* * *

"I wonder if it was Ms. Haruna who got her letter read out last night?" Naru wondered as she and Usagi walked home that afternoon.

"Oh, Naru, you listen to Midnight Zero too?" Usagi asked, eyes brightening. Naru smiled.

"Of course. I've sent them lots of love letters."

"Really? Who did you write them to?"

"It doesn't matter," Naru said, looking off dreamily into the air. "You can just write it to your future boyfriend." At least, that's what Naru had been doing. Who knew, maybe someone would hear her letters and be touched by them? She could but dream.

"Hey, that's a good idea," Usagi said, mulling it over. "I didn't think of that. My future boyfriend..." She was so wrapped up in thinking about it that she didn't see the young man walking towards them until they collided.

"Ow!" Usagi cried as she toppled back onto her rear. "Sorry, sorry, wasn't watching!" she said, getting up and bobbing like a wren at what she thought was the person she collided with. Naru wasn't sure how to tell her that she was apologizing to a telephone pole.

"Er, Usagi.." she said, tapping her on the shoulder. Usagi looked up. Then right. Then up again. The young man was quite tall. With an amused chuckle, he looked down at Usagi.

"Apologizing to the telephone pole? Nice one."

Naru blushed slightly as she noticed what a dashingly attractive figure the man cut, barely noticing Usagi starting to fume and seeth beside her.

"Might be a problem if the warm weather's affecting your head though," the man continued as he brushed past, laughing at his own joke.

"What did you say to me?!" Usagi shouted after him. Naru leaned over.

"Hey, do you know that guy? He's _gorgeous_."

"He is not!" Usagi snapped back, shaking her fists in the air. "He ticks me off! He's horrible, I hate him! IhatehimIhatehimIhatehim!

Naru was a little taken aback at Usagi's vehemence. "Er... what did he do?"

"What _didn't_ he do, more like!" Usagi replied. "That jerk has been giving me grief for weeks!"

"Well, maybe you just got off on the wrong foot-"

"The first thing he ever did was insult me!" Usagi retorted. "Literally, first meeting, _first sentence,_ he called me Dumpling Head!"

"Oh, how awful," Naru said consolingly. _Although, that's actually kindof funny,_ she thought to herself. "So how do you know him?"

"I don't, that's the point! He just _shows up_! And then he makes fun of me! For no reason! He's just a big, fat, pompous jerk! If I never see him again it'll be too soon!"

"Uhuh... well, guess we'd better get going." Naru turned to continue walking down the street. "You coming Usagi?"

"Guess so," Usagi replied, nose still out of joint.

* * *

That night, Naru again tuned the radio in just before midnight.

"Good evening. it's time for Midnight Zero."

She gave a relaxed sigh as the familiar smooth saxaphone started up. Even if the chances of her letters getting selected were slim, she always got hopeful when that music played. It was like it was a tune just for her...

"The first letter we will read is from Naru, who lives in Jubangai."

Naru's heart skipped a beat. That... no, it couldn't be her, could it? Maybe it was a different Naru, maybe...

"It's nice to believe in fate."

Naru gave a muffled squeal of delight. It was! It was her letter! Settling down on the bed, pillow clutched tightly, she listened intently as J-Dite's satin tones read her heart to the airwaves.

"Fate says it has a plan. That you will find the one you love, somewhere, somehow. It can be scary to believe in chance, to believe that your true love might be walking past you in the street, and you'd never know. But what is fate, if not chance turned into a story? And what is chance, if not fate undiscovered? Come, let us take a chance together, and write our own fate. Our own story."

Naru beamed to herself as J-Dite read. _It sounds even better than when I wrote it._

* * *

Despite the late night, Naru was up early and eager the next morning. Even before she'd had breakfast, she nipped downstairs to the shop front, going through the morning mail until she found a square, heavy envelope, neatly giftwrapped with a ribbon on one corner. Excitedly, she slipped it into her bag, dashing back inside for toast. _I'll wait until I get to school,_ she thought to herself. _I'll show everyone then._

* * *

"Naru!" Kuri said, coming up and hugging on to Naru's arm. "You got your letter read on Midnight Zero last night!"

"Yep," Naru replied, grinning.

"So did you... y'know, get it yet?"

"Right here." All Naru's friends were clustering round, as impatient as she was for the big reveal. She reached into her bag, holding the gift-wrapped envelope in front of her with pride.

"So that's the flower brooch, huh?" Yumiko asked.

"Yeah, it arrived this morning."

"Naru, hurry up and open it!" Usagi said, hands gripping the desk in anticipation.

"Okay then." Naru stripped the paper away, slipping the brooch out of the thick cardstock onto her hand. It was exquisite; a deep purple flower, with just a hint of blue. The light glimmered off the curves of the petals, and it weighed heavy in her palm.

"Wow, it's so _pretty,_" Kuri exclaimed.

"Hey!" Usagi said suddenly. "That's the same as the flower Ms. Haruna was wearing yesterday!" Everyone looked at her in surprise, as they realized she was right.

"So the letter that was from the Haruna in love was... the teacher?" Kuri wondered out loud.

"How bizarre," Usagi said, clearly unable to fathom the idea of a teacher looking for romance.

_I'll need to explain that to her at some point,_ Naru thought to herself as she affixed the brooch to her collar, getting it nestled nice and tidily. _Ms. Haruna really isn't that much older than..._

* * *

Naru's eyes flickered open. She stared at the ceiling of her bedroom for a while, not quite comprehending what she was seeing. Hang on, had she had one of those "got up and went to school" dreams? She sat up, giving a wide yawn. _Wow_, she felt sluggish. She looked around the room. It was nighttime. More than that, it was evening, as a quick look at her alarm clock showed. What on earth?...

"Hello?" she called out. "Anyone home?"

There was a sudden pounding of feet, and her mother burst through the door, a look of mingled shock and relief on her face.

"Are you alright?" she asked, sweeping up to Naru and pressing her hand against Naru's forehead. "No wooziness? Headaches?"

"Uhh, I'm feeling a bit groggy but I _think_ I'm fine... Mum, what happened? I was just at school this morning and then..."

"You fainted in class," her mother explained, holding Naru's face in her hands. "The doctors said it was that sleeping sickness that's been going around. Oh, you gave me such a fright!"

"_Hnrk!_" Naru gasped as her mother hugged her tightly. "How long have I been out?"

"Just a day, thank goodness." Her mother relaxed her grip a little, allowing Naru to suck in a much-needed breath of air. "Most of the other patients recovered earlier this afternoon, but you were taking longer. They were wanting to keep you at the hospital overnight, but I was just... I mean, what if you woke up in the middle of the night? And I wasn't there?"

"Love you too, Mum." Naru said, awkwardly patting her on the shoulderblades. Then remembering what she'd been doing before she woke up, "Mum, was I wearing a flower brooch when I came into the hospital?"

"Oh, they took that away," her mother explained. "They worked out the flower brooches were the common factor in all the cases. I think the current theory is that there was some kind of unsafe chemical residue on the brooches from the manufacturing process. They took all of them away for testing in any case. Strangest thing though - they tried to get in contact with FM 10 to find out where the brooches came from, but they're claiming they don't know anything about it. Apparently no-one there was actually running that Midnight Zero program."

"That's.. weird," Naru said. _And worrying,_ she added to herself. _That's twice now a company's just disappeared after something weird happened. If that's a coincidence, it's a crazy one..._ Maybe it was just the disorientation of suddenly losing twelve hours, but Naru felt a brief thrill of fear run down her back. That train of thought got interrupted though, as she realized something else. "Hang on... Mum, how do you know about Midnight Zero?"

Mrs Osaka shrugged defensively. "Well, it's not like I was sending any letters to them, but y'know... I can enjoy a little romantic poetry, right?"

"Were you... listening to it last night?" Naru asked, cheeks beginning to burn.

"I might have been," Mrs Osaka said evasively, before giving Naru a conspiratorial wink. Naru curled up on the bed, covering her head with her pillow as her cheeks flushed bright red.

"I'm just gonna sit here and be hideously embarrased now"

"Well, have fun with that dear."

"Mhm."

"Dinner in half an hour."

"Mhm."


	3. Chapter 3

_"What's going on?" Naru asked nervously. Her mother turned, face becoming illuminated as she faced the light. She gave Naru an evil, predatory smirk. Suddenly she leapt at Naru, knocking her down, hands pinning her against the floor by her throat. Naru cried out in fear. Her mother only laughed in response. Naru clutched at her mother's wrists, impotently trying to prise them loose._

_"Stop! Stop, please! I can't breathe... can't breathe..."_

* * *

Naru jolted upright, gasping for air. She was in her room. She was in bed. She could breathe. Her mother wasn't a monster trying to kill her.

She looked down at her hands, relaxing them as she saw she was holding onto the duvet with a death grip. They were still shaking a little though. She drew another ragged sigh of breath, dropping back onto the pillows and staring up at the ceiling. She'd thought the nightmare would fade over time, but it was as vivid as ever. It was messing with her ability to sleep properly - she'd even found herself nodding off in class once or twice.

Naru glanced over at the alarm clock. Quarter-to-Six. Not much point going back to sleep then. Pulling the covers off the bed and shuffling into her slippers, Naru went to collect her school uniform from the dresser.

* * *

Naru noticed Usagi's pining expression as she tucked into her lunch. "What's wrong?" she asked through a mouthful of curry. Usagi spluttered, caught in the act. "What? Oh, uh, it's nothing."

"Usagi," Umino piped up, wandering over. "If you've finished your lunch already, you can have some of mine!" He proffered his bento box - or what was left of it in any case. Still, Usagi wasn't one to turn down free food so-

"Well uh.. actually that's fine, no thanks, Umino"

Naru almost choked on her mouthful of rice. "Are you alright?" Naru asked Usagi, looking at her with concern.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Usagi said reassuringly. Then, leaning over to whisper to Naru, "I'll tell you once we're out in the courtyard, when Umino's not around."

"Fair enough," Naru said with a nod.

* * *

"So what's the matter?" Naru asked as Usagi joined her, Yumiko and Kiyomi under the tree. Usagi twiddled her thumbs awkwardly.

"Well, you see... I've put on quite a bit of weight recently," she admitted. "Trying to do something about it, but I'm just having such a hard time not giving in."

"Oh, so you're on a diet," Naru said.

"I understand," Kiyomi said consolingly, "I'm having a hard time too."

"We know," the other three said sagely.

"Why don't you try swimming?" Yumiko suggested to Usagi. "That'll get you thin."

"She can't swim very well though," Naru countered. Kiyomi meanwhile was still on her original train of thought.

"I've tried fasting and just eating pineapple, but the effect doesn't last very long. I've tried several things, you know."

"We know," the other tree repeated, nodding. Kiyomi had an on-again-off-again relationship with diets. She'd try something new for a fortnight, shed a kilo or two, and then snap right back to where she started. Still, at least she stayed fairly practical with her sporadic weight-loss fads.

"Losing weight by falling in love would be the perfect diet," Yumiko mused aloud, clasping her hands together wistfully.

"You haven't actually been in love though," Kiyomi pointed out.

"What are you getting at?" Yumiko asked with a frown.

"It's okay," Kiyomi said with a 'consoling' pat on the shoulder. "We can't help the way we're born."

"_You're the last person I want to hear that from,_" Yumiko muttered.

"Speaking of diets," Naru said to Usagi as Kiyomi rolled up her sleeves with a grin and prepared to playfully duke it out with Yumiko, "Ms Haruna's gotten quite thin recently."

"Really! How?" Usagi asked.

"Not sure." The two of them glanced across the courtyard at their english teacher, making her way across school with a spring in her step.

"She doesn't look that much thinner," Usagi observed, a little unconvinced.

"You can't tell because she's wearing clothes. Look at these!"

Naru and Usagi jumped at Umino's sudden apperance, a pair of photos in hand. He eagerly displayed them to Usagi one after the other.

"See, this is before..." he gave her a picture of Ms Haruna lifting weights at a gym, "And this is after." Another picture, this time of Ms Haruna in the middle of an aerobics routine, looking noticeably trim. Umino looked quite pleased with himself. Naru meanwhile, gave him a deadly frown.

"Umino... where did you get these pictures?"

* * *

"Honestly Usagi," Naru said between breaths as Umino high-tailed it round the corner of the building. "Umino takes sneaky photos of the teacher, and your biggest concern is which _gym_ they were taken at?"

"Of course - did you _see_ those photos? We have _got_ to get in on that!"

Naru wanted to object to Usagi's sense of priority but was too out of breath to argue. "We'll take a look on the way home, okay?" That would probably appease Usagi - the mere sight of gym equipment would probably make her faint.

* * *

That afternoon, Kiyomi and Yumiko joined the two friends in scouting out the place.

"This is it," Usagi proudly annouced, "This is the gym Ms Haruna goes to."

"Joining a gym's a bit expensive though..." Naru said in a vain attempt to try and dissuade Usagi. Sure enough, she'd latched on to the large billboard-like video screen above the gym.

"Oh look, look! It's Rie Gotou! She's so _cute!_"

_Well, no arguments there,_ Naru thought to herself as the advert repeated its advertising pitch. _Still, there was no way they could afford-_

"..Right now at Gym Shapely, we're having free introductory memberships!"

"Did I hear that right?" Usagi asked, beaming like a kid in a candy store. Even Naru was interested now.

"Nothing cheaper than free," she observed. "Come on, let's go!"

* * *

"So how come you're coming along, Naru?" Usagi asked as the girls dropped their bags in the changing room and began pulling out their gymwear.

"Thought I might give it a try," Naru replied, teasing the bow of her school uniform loose. "Worst case scenario I get worn out and decide the exercise isn't for me." She was trying to play it off like it was no big deal, but honestly, she'd been thinking about doing something like this for a while - she'd just been a little too embarrassed to admit to wanting to shed some weight. Usagi pulling them all in here had given her a great smokescreen.

The incident with Midnight Zero had got her thinking. She was being too passive, just sitting around waiting for happiness to just fall into her lap. Wishing on stars and love charms. Maybe it was time to try a different approach.

"All set," Usagi said as she finished wriggling into her sports jumper. "Everyone else?" the others nodded.

"Alrighty, let's go get 'em!" Naru declared as the four girls made their way out of the changing rooms.

"Welcome to Gym Shapely," a satin-smooth voice said. Naru's looked up, and her heart skipped a beat. "I'm the instructor here." The young man in front of them was breathtakingly handsome, with this warm, compelling smile. The others seemed similarly stricken.

"Um, uh... we're new here," Usagi stammered, fidgeting with her fingers. The instructor nodded in understanding.

"Please, come this way."

Naru was already following along before he'd finished the sentence.

* * *

The instructor split the girls up between the other coaches in the gym, overseeing proceedings and occasionally spurring them on. They were all professionals, bustling the girls between exercise machines without giving them a chance to sit down in between. The workouts were quite intensive, and Naru's muscles were complaining loudly within the first half-hour, but she stuck it out - after all, it wasn't as if she was going to be here long term. And then, as she continued soldiering through the rountines, she seemed to hit a plateau - a point where the tired limbs and shortness of breath faded into the background.

_This must be that second-wind thing,_ she thought to herself. And to her surprise it felt... good. She was tired, but it was actually a bit of a rush. And every time she felt herself wanting to call it quits, she pulled herself back on track. _Think of the kilos,_ she thought to herself, _think about how great it'll feel when people start asking if you've lost weight. Seems hard now, but you'll get to the end and think "wow, that didn't take long". _And indeed, she found the time flashed by, so that when she finally noticed Usagi wasn't in the gym, she couldn't be sure how long she'd been missing.

"Hey, where's Usagi?" she asked Yumiko, taking a short pause in her exercise cycle session.

"Huh? She was on the rowing machine just a minute ago."

"You there," the instructor said, looking over at Naru. "You won't get beautiful if you just stop. You're off to a good start, keep it up."

"Yes, right!" Naru said, blushing slightly at being caught out, before going back to the exercise cycle and doubling down. "Beautiful. Will be beautiful," she said to herself, enjoying the little thrill of adrenaline she got from it. This was great. This was _fun._ She could get used to this.

* * *

"Okay, that's it for today!" the instructor announced, clapping his hands together. " Naru relaxed, heaving in breaths as she wound down from the workout. "You did well, everyone. Now to finish off, we'll have you showered with our Shape Ray."

"Shape... Ray?" Naru asked inbetween breaths. The instructor simply smiled and beckoned for them to follow. He led them out of the main gym and down a flight of stairs to a room down at the basement level. The lighting here was dim, and maybe it was just exhaustion from the workout, but Naru found herself having a little trouble focusing on the equipment down here. The instructor stopped in front of a row of pod-like vessels below the room's central light.

"You'll get inside these," he said, indicating the pods. Naru frowned. She could help feeling like there was something off about this... she couldn't quite place a finger on it though. Her mind was still fuzzy from the exercise. Still, she was fairly certain this was odd. The others seemed to think so, as they all hesistated.

"If you're exposed to the Shape Ray for a mere five minutes, you're looking at 10 kilograms of weight loss," the instructor continued, indicating Kiyomi. "Even you thin ones can shed 3 kilos."

Now _that_ was an impressive claim. And normally Naru would be incredulous but, well... she'd seen the photos of Miss Haruna.

"So _this_ is how she did it," Naru mused. And if it was just five minutes in what was effectively a tanning bed... what was the harm in giving it a go?

"Alright, count me in," Naru said, stepping forward.

* * *

She must have overworked her muscles during the exercise routine, because when Naru clambered out, she was feeling very groggy and tired. Her arms ached and her eyes were refusing point-blank to focus on anything for more than a second.

_Should've gone a little easier,_ she thought to herself.

"You look stunning," the instructor said warmly, and as tired as she was, Naru couldn't help but glow a little inside. "Be sure to come back again tomorrow."

"Sure thing," Naru said vaguely, making her way out of the Shape Ray room. She was beginning to change her mind. Maybe she _would_ think about staying on at the gym after the free sessions. Her mum surely wouldn't object to her being more active. Yes, that was it. She'd ask her mother about it tomorrow, once she was sure she was in this for the long term.

* * *

_"...but then, something happened?" Miss Yamada asked. Naru nodded._

_"Turns out that gym? Yet another front for... whatever it was Sailor Moon was fighting in those early days." She had to be careful there. She'd almost forgotten that the general public weren't as up-to-speed on Sailor Moon as she was. Officially Sailor Moon was just a crime-stopper, like Sailor V. The fan following who kept tabs on reports of Sailor Scout activity had pieced together a few more odds and ends, and it was rumored that her enemies were supernatural in nature, but Naru was fairly certain she had the most knowledge of the Dark Kingdom of anyone who wasn't a Scout. Frankly, she wished she wasn't._

_"I'd imagine that put a damper on your fitness ambitions?"_

_"Didn't it just," Naru said with a weak smile. "Nothing like turning up to your second session at a gym only to find out Sailor Moon just saved your teacher from the phony gym instructor who was probably drugging gym members or something. I don't know, I never read about it in the newspapers. Too busy stressing out about how similar it was to the brooch incident." Naru looked up at the ceiling as she remembered something. "Come to think of it, that was about the time I started skipping out on PE class. Huh. Only just made that connection." _But then,_ she added to herself,_ not like you being slow on the uptake is news.

_"We're running a bit short on time," Miss Yamada said, glancing at her watch. "Same time on Thursday?" _

_Naru nodded, picking up her schoolbag. "See you then."_

_Miss Yamada click-clacked her pen as Naru left the counselling office. She was definitely opening up now. Still not being completey open with the counsellor, she could tell, but she didn't want to push Naru too far. She was fairly certain she'd yet to reveal the underlying cause of her anger issues._


	4. Chapter 4

_"Afternoon," Miss Yamada said as Naru opened the door._

_"Hey," the non-committal reply came back._

_"Now, I believe last session we got as far as the fitness gym incident?"_

_"That's right," Naru replied, dropping her bag next to the sofa and plopping down into the cushions. "Things actually quietened down for me after that. Not much changed for a week or two. Well, there was that one incident with the talent show. I actually had several days blacked out after that one."_

_"Hallucinogenic compounds in the theatre's new insulation material, wasn't it?"_

_Naru shrugged. "Something like that."_

_Miss Yamada tapped a stack of papers together on the desk, clearing things up for the counselling session. "So, while all of this was going on, were you talking about it with anyone? Your friend Miss Tsukino perhap-"_

_"She's not my friend," Naru interrupted tersely. Miss Yamada paused in mid-shuffle._

_"I don't understand. You two have always been quite close with each oth-"_

_"She's not. My friend." Naru repeated, teeth clenched._

_"...did something happen between you recently?"_

_"Oh, we've been clashing for ages. It just took me until recently to realize I didn't have to put up with it."_

_"Friends do clash from time to time though," Miss Yamada countered. Naru glowered at the counsellor, that new short temper that had landed her in counselling taking full hold._

_"This is different," Naru insisted. Miss Yamada remained impassive. While breaking friendships over trivial things wasn't out of character for a teenager of Naru's age, Miss Yamada recognized forced anger when she saw it. Eventually, Naru succumbed to the impulse to fill the silence with justification. "I've had fallings-out with friends before. Rui went through a stage where she shut me out, back around the time-" She bit her lip and all her energy disappeared. _

_Miss Yamada blinked, straightening slightly as she saw the change. Up until now, Naru had alternated between sullen and dismissive, seeing the counselling sessions as either a waste of time, or a free pass out of classwork. But now... _

_"Your falling-out with Rui," Miss Yamada prompted. "Tell me about that."  
_

* * *

The tennis court was surrounded, students from at least three different schools crowding up to get a chance at watching Rui Saionji practice. A large cheer rolled through the crowd with every serve, and an even larger one with every point she scored.

"Go Rui!" Naru called as the tennis ball sailed past her opponent's racket again. "You're the best, sis!"

Rui glanced over, smiling as she saw Naru and giving her a friendly wave before she went to collect a new ball.

"Huh, I never knew," Usagi said, looking askance at Naru.

"Knew what?"

"That Rui was your older sister."

Naru blinked a few times. "Huh?" Usagi hunched into her shoulders and pouted.

"Seriously, how could you keep something like that from your best friend?"

"You really are a nitwit sometimes, Usagi," Naru replied, trying to suppress an amused smirk as Usagi spluttered incoherently in outrage. "I'm an only child. Besides we have different surnames."

"That's- _uh, okay, that's a fair point._ But didn't you _just_ call Rui your sister?"

"Well, Rui's mother's been a customer of our store for a long time. Rui and I have been playing together since we were little." Naru leaned up against the tennis court fence as she reminisced. "She only a year older than me, but she's always been a bit like an adopted big sister to me."

The two friends continued to watch for a while, before they noticed a murmur that was beginning to run through the crowd on their left.

_"Wow, he's gorgeous!"_

_"Do you know him?"_

_"I heard he's an entrepreneur, just arrived in town."_

_"I heard he's the president of a new company."_

Usagi and Naru both leaned back to try and see what the fuss was about. They caught sight of the person everyone was talking about. He was a tall man, wearing a crisp, lavender-grey jacket, light grey jeans and a faded yellow shirt. Up to the neck, he was every inch the well-groomed businessman you might expect: but then his hair. Oh, his hair. It cascaded down his shoulders in a vibrant brown mane that caused Naru's heart to flutter into her throat. And those piercing blue eyes...

Naru had to double-take as the man suddenly vaulted the tennis court fence in a single fluid motion. It almost didn't look real - had he even taken his hands out of his pockets to do that? - and by the time he landed cat-like on the court itself, all eyes were on him.

"Er... please don't enter the court without permission!" Rui's opponent called, a little half-heartedly. The man ignored her completely however, and turned to face Rui.

"Use your weight more when you hit the ball!" he called. Rui tilted her head, not sure what to make of this. The man moved into position on the other side of the net, accepting the proffered racket from the now-flustered girl Rui had been playing against.

"Okay, try now!" He called, spreading his feet and getting ready to receive the ball. Rui threw the ball in the air, bring the racket up over her head in a powerful serve. Any other player would have been scrambling to catch it, but the man barely even flinched. A single deliberate step, and a single deliberate one-handed swing, and he'd caught the ball in the exact centre of the racket, sending it back with a... it was hard to work out, he followed through in a way Naru hadn't ever seen before. It put her in mind of a fencer parrying a thrust, almost. The ball shot back across the net and... curved? Weaved? It did _something_ strange, because Rui was caught flat-footed, and the ball struck her on the wrist, knocking the racket from her hand.

"Rui!" Naru called in alarm as the tennis player cried out in pain and clutched her wrist. The man, seemingly unconcerned, made his way around the net.

"A _fly_ could have landed on a serve like that," he chided.

"Who are you?" Rui demanded.

"Masato Sanjoin; just an eccentric coach." He walked over and picked up Rui's tennis racket. "Just think of putting your weight behind the ball," he said, handing it back to her. Then,turning to look at the other tennis students, "Someone come out here and receive her serve!"

"Ooh! Me! Me! I'll do it!" one of the boys called, suddenly in position in the tennis court.

"Hey how did you get in there?" one of his friends called.

"First come, first serve!" the boy quipped back, getting in position to play. "Ready when you are!"

Rui didn't reply. She was intently focused on the ball. Tossing it into the air, she brought her racket back... and then with a thrust that put her entire body behind it, drove the ball across the court. It was too fast to follow properly; before the boy even had time to react, the ball had struck him in the side and knocked him off his feet, before burying into the sandy surface of the court with a small explosion of dust. A gasp of amazement went up from the students at the sudden spike in Rui's serving power. Rui herself turned to thank the man for his advice; only to find that in the midst of the action, he'd managed to disappear without a trace. Eventually, she shrugged and went back to practice. "Next!" she called. Another one of the boys stepped up, holding his racket braced and ready. Rui tossed the ball in the air again; and once more the serve drove its way across the court with enough force to knock her opponent over. "Next!" Rui called, not even stopping to check if her current opponent was alright.

She didn't stop for the next opponent either. Or the one after that. All the students watched in awe as she methodically mowed down every single opponent who tried to face her. Before long the once-eager volunteers were pressed up against the far netting of the court, afraid to even approach the boundary lines.

"Wow, she's so cool!" Usagi enthused. Naru, however could not share the enthusiasm. Something was... off about Rui. Yes, she could get very driven when it came to her tennis but the fact that she hadn't even *apologized* for the near-constant injuries her new serving style seemed to be causing, let alone attempted to avoid causing them.

"Oooh, I'm running late," Usagi left the fence, looking back to see if Naru was following. "You coming?"

"Actually, you go on ahead," Naru replied. "I'm going to stay and try to catch a word with Rui."

"Okay then, see you around!" Usagi said with a wave and a smile. Naru returned it as best she could.

* * *

Rui continued to practice for the rest of the afternoon. Well, if you could call it practice. No-one survived more than a single serve from her. And her attitude towards her opponents didn't improve - if anything it became worse. More than once she actually broke one of other girls' rackets without so much as an apology. Finally everyone there had taken all they could cope, and Rui was left on an empty court.

"Hmph, amateurs." Rui turned away, heading to the back line of the court to do some warm-down exercises. Naru hesitated. Maybe Rui was just out of sorts from being embarrassed in front of everyone by that Mr Sanjoin person. Maybe it would be better if she came back later... no. Rui was her friend, and had been for most of her life. True they didn't get to see each other as much these days, but Rui would have dropped everything and come running if she knew Naru was in trouble. Naru wouldn't do anything less for her.

Naru opened the gate to the court, carefully pulling it to. "Rui?" she asked. Rui didn't reply, or even look in Naru's direction. Clearing her throat and summoning a bit more courage, Naru approached her. "Rui, did something happen?" Still no response. "If you need my help with anything, please, just let me know-"

"It's none of your business," Rui replied tersely, finally acknowledging Naru's presence. Naru flinched - the look Rui had fixed on her had been cold and sneering, as if Naru had crawled out from under a rock. Cheeks burning, she mumbled an apology and backed away. Rui didn't even wait to see if Naru had left before she went back to her exercises.

* * *

"Sorry for the short notice," Naru said again as she poured a cup of tea. Usagi waved the apology off with a smile.

"It's okay, I don't mind." She smiled sunnily. Naru drooped in response. "Is there something on you mind?" Usagi asked, looking a bit concerned.

"I just... I don't know how to say this," Naru replied. "I'm just... I'm worried about Rui. I mean, she's abusing _tennis equipment_, she'd never have done that before. It's like she's a completely different person."

"Maybe she's just on edge because of the tournament coming up?" Usagi suggested.

"I thought that might be it at first but... it's something else." Naru paused, her throat tightening. Her eyes welled with tears as she remembered how Rui had so callously brushed her off. It would have been hurtful coming from anyone, but for someone who'd been there for her as long as she could remember... it felt like she'd lost a friend.

"What's _happened_ to her?" Naru wondered out loud. "It's something terrible, I just know it, but she won't _tell_ me anything." She put her hand over her mouth to muffle the crying that she felt sure was about to start.

"I know!" Usagi suddenly declared, leaning forward on her hands. "Why don't we investigate what happened? I'll help you!"

"Usagi..." Naru began, not sure what to say.

"Chin up!" Usagi said, patting Naru reassuringly on the shoulder. "I'm sure there's a reason she's been acting this way. We just need to find out and then everything will be back to normal!"

Naru smiled through her tears. She'd been so caught up in the fear of losing one friend that she'd forgotten she had another. "Thanks Usagi," Naru said, wiping her eyes dry.

"We'll sneak out after dinner and do some reconnaissance," Usagi said, already scheming. "I'll go down and ring my mum, let her know I'm staying late."

Naru sat back as Usagi slipped out the door of the bedroom. She'd needed that. Usagi's irrepressible optimism was currently the only highlight of her afternoon.

A brief mental image of the mysterious man who'd talked to Rui this afternoon floated into her mind, and Naru was surprised to feel herself blushing slightly.

_Well, maybe not the **only** highlight,_ she admitted to herself.

* * *

"So this is it?" Usagi asked as they arrived outside the tennis school.

"She practices here after school," Naru explained.

"_Hhhmm..._" Usagi mused to herself, looking a great deal more thoughtful than usual.

"What's wrong?" Naru asked.

"Oh! Ah, nothing! Nothing!" Usagi twittered, as transparent as she ever was when caught out. She went back to staring at the tennis school: probably coming up with a plan of some kind, Naru decided, based on the way her expression cycled from frowning to smugly conniving.

Before Naru could ask Usagi what she was thinking, there was a cry of pain from somewhere behind the fence. Thoughts of stealth completely discarded, the two friends ran through the front gate, circling round the main building to reach the court out the back. Naru let out a gasp, hesitating as she took the scene in.

Rui was there, and she was still practising - had she been practising all evening? And her opponents... they definitely weren't students. If anything they looked like professional athletes. Professional atheletes who were currently pleading with Rui to stop. Rui didn't even seem to care; she was already getting ready to serve again, and there was... Naru couldn't put her finger on it, but there was a _wrongness_ about her, like air shimmering in the heat. Whatever it meant, Naru knew she had to put a stop to this before it went any further.

"Stop!" she called out, running out into the court to put herself between Rui and the athletes (who immediately took the chance to run to safety).

"Out of my way!" Rui shouted across the court at her.

"No!" Naru retorted. "Rui, stop acting like this, please!"

"Get out of my way Naru!"

"No!" Naru drew herself up, staring her friend down.

"_Move!_" Rui commaned, and a feeling like ice-water down her spine made Naru step back. Rui was looking at her with inhuman malice... no, not Rui, Naru realized in horror. That wasn't Rui looking at her from across the court. It was something else. Something..._ familiar._

"_MOVE!"_ Rui shrieked, taking her racket in both hands and drawing it back. Usagi moved, as if realizing what was about to happen, and then a wall of air slammed into Naru and carried her off her feet. The roaring thunderclap of air knocked her senseless before she even hit the ground, and in her last moment of consciousness, she realized why Rui's strange manner seemed familiar. The sensation she'd felt: it had been the same as back in the jewellery shop on that day. The same feeling as when her 'mother' had turned to look at her with that terrible, predatory smile.

* * *

Naru's eyes opened.

"_Owww..._" she moaned. Her head was pounding, her elbows were scraped and she felt like she'd been hit in the stomach with a basketball. She looked around. She was lying beside a small row of shrubs, tucked in next to the tennis school building.

_I must have been knocked out of the court,_ she thought to herself. Rolling over, she picked herself up, wincing as her bruised limbs took her weight. She looked around. There was no-one around - wait, was that a flash of movement? She'd caught a glimpse what looked like a person on the far corner of the school building but it couldn't be - no-one could jump that high. In any case, she had a more immediate concern.

"Rui!" Naru called, seeing her friend's unconscious form lying on the court. Stumbling over her feet, ignoring the bruises, she rushed up to Rui, picking her up and cradling her shoulders in her arm.

"Rui! Rui, are you alright? Rui!"

There was no response for a few seconds. Then, Rui shifted, and opened her eyes slowly.

"Naru?" Rui murmured in confusion, moving into a more comfortable sitting position. "_Ow, my head..._ where am I?"

"You're at the tennis school. You were knocked out, are you okay?"

"I _think_ so..." Rui looked up at the sky and frowned. "Hold on, it's night? What... what happened? Last I remember I was at school and... I was training? I think?"

"...you don't remember anything?" Naru asked. Rui thought for a bit.

"...nothing. I was training and then... everything's a blank."

"So... you're not angry with me?" Naru asked, her voice wavering slightly. Rui sat bolt upright and looked at Naru in alarm.

"Of course not! Why would I be angry with you?" she hugged Naru tightly. "You're my friend, you always will be!"

"_Ow, bruises!_" Naru squeaked. Rui loosened her hug and smiled apologetically.

"Naru! Ah, Rui, you're awake!" Naru and Rui looked up to see Usagi running round the corner of the building.  
"Where have you been?" Naru asked, looking at Usagi in curiosity.

"I, uh... I went to get help!" Usagi replied. "Yeah, I just got a friend to ring the ambulance. Isn't that right, Luna?" She looked down at the black cat who was tagging along at her heels. Luna for her part looked... exhasperated? It was hard to tell with cats. She ran off shortly after that in any case.

_Funny,_ Naru thought to herself as Usagi helped her lift Rui up. _I don't remember her having her cat here when we arrived._

"Did you see what caused that gust of air?" Naru asked Usagi as they left the court. Usagi shrugged.

"Freak storm maybe? I dunno, I was a little preoccupied."

"Going to get help you mean?"

"Yeah, going to get help. I'm responsible like that." Usagi poked her tongue at Naru mischievously.

* * *

_"And that's more or less it," Naru finished up. "Rui had no memory what happened, so we went right back to how things had always been. Now see, with Usagi, "how it's always been" is the problem. She's always been flighty and unreliable. The only thing that's changed is that I've run out of patience."_

_Miss Yamada didn't respond. Her eyes were closed and her fingers were pressed firmly together, supporting her chin._

_"So when did you next meet Mr Sanjoin?"_

_"Wh- I... I didn't," Naru stammered."I never saw him again." Miss Yamada raised an eyebrow, eyes still closed. _

_"I don't need a psychology degree to see through that one," she observed dryly._

_Naru didn't respond for a long time. Finally, with a sombre look on her face, she looked up at Miss Yamada._

_"It was a few weeks later," she began. "I got this letter in the mail..."_


	5. Chapter 5

Naru lay on her bed holding the letter above her head as she examined it. It was a thin slip of paper, with a pink border that outlined the address in a heart silhouette. She flipped it over and re-read the sender name. "Tuxedo... Mask?" she said to herself. She didn't recognize the name. Sounded like a TV character, truth be told. She slipped a fingernail under the seal and tore it open, pulling out the folded sheet inside.

_I love you more than anyone else. Please meet me at the MS Department Store in Shinjuku tomorrow night._

Despite herself, Naru felt a blush form on her cheeks. She'd sometimes fantasized about getting an anonymous love letter - who hadn't? - but now that she had one... what to do? Her mother certainly wouldn't approve of her sneaking out at night to answer a love letter from someone she didn't even know - although maybe she did. "Tuxedo Mask" was clearly an alias after all. Maybe this was someone she knew?... Naru quickly swatted away the image of Masato Sanjoin that flashed across her mind. Now _that_ was complete fantasy. He hadn't even _seen_ Naru at the tennis court. Naru hadn't even known his name until she'd got it off Rui. She folded the love letter back into its envelope and got up to put it on the dresser. She'd give it some thought in the morning - maybe she'd take it to school and show Usagi, see what she thought of it.

* * *

Usagi was, of course, late to school. Naru ended up showing the letter to Yumiko while she was waiting, and was taken aback when Yumiko revealed her own letter. The class quickly began comparing, so that when Usagi finally arrived, she was the only one out of the loop.

"Naru!" Usagi said, once she'd got herself settled "You'll never guess what happened!"

"A mysterious stranger sent you a love letter?"

"A mysterious - wait, how did you know?"

"They sent one to me to."

Usagi let out a dismayed wail. "No! That _can't_ be true!"

"But it is. I got a love letter from someone named Tuxedo Mask."

"Me too," Yumiko piped up, holding her own version. A few of the other students did the same.

"Who _is_ this Tuxedo Mask?" Naru asked to the room in general. No-one had an answer. She looked back down at the letter, mulling over the contents.

_I wish it was a love letter from him..._ Naru thought to herself, and Mr Sanjoin's face drifted across her mind once more. That was silly though. With a love letter being sent to this many people, it was probably some kind of prank.

As if in affirmation, Ms Haruna arrived at class. She strolled up to the desk and slapped her textbooks down to get everyone's attention. "Everyone!" she called in her prim announcer's tone. "You musn't be tricked by the fake love letters going around. Ladies should be modest after all. You understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" The class replied in unison.

"That letter might have been sent by someone with vicious intentions, so don't go to the Shinjuku Deparment Store, alright?"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Good." And with that, Ms Haruna turned to begin writing up notes on the board.

_Trust Haruna to have our safety be her first thought,_ Naru thought to herself.

* * *

Naru put the question of the letter's origins out of her mind for the rest of the day (or at least tried to - Usagi heaving heartbroken sighs at regular intervals made it very difficult). She needed to focus on her classwork anyway. The rough nights were taking their toll. She'd been making a point to try and hide the fact (mostly she didn't want probing questions about the cause) and so far she'd been doing quite well. A little too well, as she found out when she arrived home.

"Naru, you're not busy this afternoon are you?" Naru's mother called from the kitchen. "I've just got a call that some items I rainchecked have come in at the mall. If I give you a list, can you go pick them up for me? I'm about to take over in the shop."

"Er... I guess so."

"Wonderful, thanks honey. It shouldn't take you too long, the shops are all in Shinjuku."

"...You don't mean the Shinjuku Deparment Store?"

"That's the one." Mrs Osaka leaned her head into the corridor. "There's a basket on the dining table, I'll have the list in it by the time you finish changing."

"Yeah, of course." Naru turned down the corridor towards her bedroom, forgetting to remove her shoes as the letter resurfaced and remained at the top of her mind, refusing to budge.

_It's early afternoon,_ Naru reassured herself. _You'll be fine. Just a normal afternoon shopping trip, what could happen?_

* * *

Naru stood stock-still, hand nervously clenched in front of her. Shoppers wended their way through the mall, but to Naru's eyes they might as well have been ghosts. Only the figure opposite the storefront seemed solid, seemed real. Masato Sanjoin stood in profile, lost in thought. His hair was as silky and vibrant as Naru remembered, nestled onto his shoulders, as if caressing his neck. His eyes were blue, and deep, and Naru felt certain that if they looked at her she'd instantly melt. He had a striking, sharply defined nose; it gave him an almost aquiline aspect. His clothes were as sharp and co-ordinated as his manner. He practically exuded fashion sense (and as the daughter of a jeweler, Naru would have known). And here he was, in the very same mall that Naru had received a love-letter inviting her to... Naru mentally gave herself a slap on the cheek. _Come on, be sensible. It's just coincidence. Just because he's rich doesn't mean he can't shop in a mall._

And yet.. _this_ mall? On this day? No, it was wishful thinking, it was wild speculation, it was...

...it was her only chance.

Naru felt her heart thump faster as the thought calcified. She'd only had the smallest glimpse of Mr Sanjoin at the tennis courts, and then the incident with Rui had diverted her attention. At some level she'd known that she'd likely never meet Mr Sanjoin again. And now, here he was, not twenty metres away. She wanted... no, she _needed_ to take this chance, before it slipped away from her.

"Mr Sanjoin!" Naru called. The man turned towards her. She'd been right, her gaze _did_ make her feel like she was melting. She began to babble as the nervousness took hold. "It's me! I-I'm a member of Juban Junior High's tennis club, Naru Osaka."

"Yes, I remember now. Are you out shopping?"

_He remembered me._ Naru's heart was now thrumming like a hummingbird, and she could feel a rush of blood to her temples. The adrenaline boost proved enough to overcome her shyness, and she found herself asking the question she'd been playing in her head since last night. "Would you mind if I asked you a question? You... wouldn't happen to be Tuxedo Mask, would you?"

"_What?_" Mr Sanjoin seemed completely taken aback by the question, and almost backed away from Naru "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Naru said hurriedly, her shyness overtaking her burning curiousity. "I was just.. wishing you were. It's something that crossed my mind." Naru mentally kicked herself. _No, no, that was _stupid_, what's he going to make of that?_ "I'm sorry for asking you such a silly question," she stammered, now trying to backpedal out of the conversation.

"Naru," Mr Sanjoin said, leaning against the wall. "You're the cutest girl at Juban Junior High."

Naru's eyes widened, and she looked up at Mr Sanjoin in wonder. "Really?"

"I've been interested in you for a while now," Mr Sanjoin said, smiling warmly. He briefly rested a hand on Naru's shoulder, and the nerve-endings seemed to send the sensation of touch rippling through her entire body. "I'll see you tonight." And with that, he stepped aside, Naru catching the briefest hint of fragrance as he walked past her and down the corridor.

_Tonight? What did he meant 'tonight'? Unless..._ Naru pulled out the letter she had yet to discard. And she knew.

Naru looked up with a gasp, trying to catch sight of Mr Sanjoin, but he had already disappeared into the crowd. Heart now hammering in her chest, Naru tried with little success to focus on the shopping she'd come here to do in the first place.

* * *

Come nightfall, Naru was standing outside the closed department store, second thoughts swimming around her head. The rest of her evening after meeting Sanjoin had been a blur. She'd given her mother the slip fairly easily - Naru vaguely remembered she'd been distracted by organizing the shipment of a particularly valuable jewellery piece - and now here she was, unsure what to do and feeling very conspicuous standing on the empty sidewalk. _Maybe I'm early_, she thought to herself, and leaned against the roller shutters over the main entrance to wait. The door instantly shifted, and rattled up into the roof as Naru started back in surprise. The darkened interior of the mall yawned in front of her, black after the pale yellow light of the street. For a moment, Ms Haruna's warning came back to mind, and Naru almost turned to run home then and there. But she steeled herself and walked forward. No, she knew what she was getting herself into. She wasn't letting this chance slide. Taking a deep breath, she entered the foyer. Her eyes adjusted to the dark quickly, and as it became easier to make her way through the cavernous hallway, she plucked up enough courage to call out.

"Tuxedo Mask?" Her voice felt thin and wavering in the emptiness. "Tuxedo... no, Mr Sanjoin? Are you there?"

There was a sudden clunking whirr, and Naru's eyes became momentarily dazzled as the ceiling lights flashed to full brilliance.

"Here!"

Naru turned at the sound. A figure stood at the top of the escalator, red-lined cape billowing out to the side. His suit had a satin shimmer to it, and with the swept lilac mask he might have come straight from a masquerade ball. He stepped smoothly onto the escalator and let it carry him slowly down towards Naru.

"Welcome," the figure said, and this time the tone and intonation were unmistakeable.

"That voice... So you _are_ Masato Sanjoin!" Naru's nervousness, her suspicions, all of it evaporated as she realized that the dream she'd been nurturing for the last week was no dream at all.

"You recognize me from my voice?" Sanjoin asked, clearly taken aback.

"Of course! Your voice, and the way you carry yourself..." Naru looked him over, fixing this image in her memory, already knowing she'd treasure it forever. "...You are none other than Masato Sanjoin!" Even saying his _name_ made her giddy.

"Do you love Masato Sanjoin that much?" he asked. This wasn't real. It couldn't be real, and yet it was happening right in front of her. Something that she'd only ever thought about as an abstract, an ideal with no real sense that it would happen, was suddenly a concrete reality. She was stepping into a storybook, and she couldn't help but play the part.

"Since I heard what you told me this afternoon... I've become a prisoner of love." In another context it would have felt corny, but here and now it felt natural, as if that was the only way to properly express it. Anything could happen from here.

What happened next, however, was not something she was prepared for. Masato Sanjoin suddenly leapt the last dozen feet of the escalator and landed in front of Naru with cat-like grace. "Sailor Moon!" he declared as he landed. "Reveal yourself! Show me who you truly are!" He thrust an accusing finger forwards, pressing against the top of her sternum. Naru took a step back in shock.

"...Mr Sanjoin?" Sanjoin looked at her in confusion.

"What's wrong? Transform into Sailor Moon!"

"What are you talking about?" Naru felt herself begin to panic. Had she misunderstood? Had she said something wrong? Her mind was addled with emotion, she couldn't connect one event to the next. Mind going numb in confusion as Mr Sanjoin continued to demand a response, she said the only thing her emotions would let her.

"...I love you," she murmured nervously. Everything went white, and then, everything went black.

* * *

Naru reshuffled the notes in the till, before sliding the tray closed.

"Okay, change drawer's restocked!" she called to her mother. A cluster of customers crowded around the counter, eager to purchase their selections. Mrs Osaka didn't seem to have heard Naru. She was standing in the middle of the shop floor, long black gown pooling around her.

"Mum? Can you hear me?"

He mother's head turned. And kept turning. As it twisted itself round to face Naru, the eyes darkened, the skin withered, and the evil, predatory grin pulled itself back into a demonic snarl.

Naru tried to scream, but her voice was gone. She tried to run, but her feet were rooted to the ground. She tried to squeeze her eyes shut and will it all to stop, but it was too late. The monster that was her mother lunged across the shop, vaulting the counter and pinning her against the wall.

"Mum! Stop! Please stop!"

The shop customers all began to collapse as Naru felt herself begin to suffocate. "Help!" she croaked out. "Someone help! Please!"

"No-one's going to help you," the monster growled at her. "You're going to die here." The creature brought one hand up and clutched Naru's face, and she felt the long, sharp talons begin to crush her skull...

* * *

Naru started awake, gasping for air. A nurse standing beside the bed glanced down at her, lowering her clipboard.

"Are you alright?" she asked. Naru looked at the ceiling, cold sweat beading off her forehead.

"...Just a nightmare," she said finally. She looked around. Hospital ward. No-one else around except for the nurse. Also, everything ached and she had a pounding headache. Naru groaned as she held a hand against her forehead.

"What happened? How did I get here?"

"You're not going to believe this," the nurse said with a smile, "but you were actually brought to the emergency ward by Sailor Moon."

"Wait, what?" Naru sat up in bed, suddenly alert.

"Oh, it gave us a surprise, I can tell you that. Even got to see her two sidekicks. Apparently you'd got caught in the firing line of one of their enemies, and they were bringing you in to make sure you were okay.

"...and am I?"

"For the most part." The nurse looked at the monitors that were currently hooked up to Naru's bed. "It's mostly fatigue. Got you on an IV to counteract the immediate effects, and then it's just a few days bed rest and you'll be fine. We've got the system down quite well at this point - seriously, you would not believe how many of these cases we've treated in the last quarter. Luckily things have slowed down this last month so we were able to get everything sorted quite quickly. You should be able to go home tomorrow morning." The nurse put the clipboard down. "Shall I go let your mother know you're okay?"

"...Mum's here?"

"She came as soon as we contacted her."

"Oh... of course, let her know."

_Shoot, how do I explain this one?_ Naru thought as the nurse left the ward. Shortly afterwards, the sound of rapid footsteps came from the hallway. Mrs Osaka swung into view, clinging to the doorjamb in alarm. Naru froze for a moment, looking at her mother with an odd expression.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" her mother came up to the bed, clasping Naru's hand.

"...No," Naru reassured her. "Nothing's wrong, I'm fine." She gave a thin smile and opened her arms to give her mother a hug, pretending, even to herself, that the thrill of fear she'd felt when her mother first appeared had never happened.


End file.
